Life after 36
There’s a magnificent Turkish poet, Cahit Sitki Taranci, who said that 35 is “halfway through the road.” The poem that laments the loss of youth and recognizes the creeping existential dread that one feels as the concept of their mortality becomes increasingly real. Taranci’s verses address the physical changes in the mirror, the loss of feeling, the constant worry and day-to-day struggle, and the hard truths that one discovers as one ages. My favorite verse, and one I agree with: “I discover...
LA or New York?
A question that stuck with me for days after the two times I’ve visited LA: should I move here? While I was in LA, I experienced this question as a certainty. I belonged in LA. Everything about it fundamentally nourished me: from the sun to the coffeeshops where no one was in a rush, where people called each other by their name and healthy options were the default rather than something you had to seek out. Plus, there was Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Erewhon’s breakfast burritos and the palm-li...
Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant: Is it better to forget?
The most recent book I finished is Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant, in which an elderly Briton couple leave their village to visit a son who they have not seen in years. This is a perilous journey in post-Roman Britain, where distances are yet unconquered by advanced transportation, and where people are frail. Still, the story hints that the couple is strong for their age yet, and devoted to each other. There is one quirk: the couple is missing their memories, owing to a dragon’s spell cast...
Discovering, remembering, and clarifying my thoughts through writing. Writing to find joy.
Life after 36
There’s a magnificent Turkish poet, Cahit Sitki Taranci, who said that 35 is “halfway through the road.” The poem that laments the loss of youth and recognizes the creeping existential dread that one feels as the concept of their mortality becomes increasingly real. Taranci’s verses address the physical changes in the mirror, the loss of feeling, the constant worry and day-to-day struggle, and the hard truths that one discovers as one ages. My favorite verse, and one I agree with: “I discover...
LA or New York?
A question that stuck with me for days after the two times I’ve visited LA: should I move here? While I was in LA, I experienced this question as a certainty. I belonged in LA. Everything about it fundamentally nourished me: from the sun to the coffeeshops where no one was in a rush, where people called each other by their name and healthy options were the default rather than something you had to seek out. Plus, there was Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Erewhon’s breakfast burritos and the palm-li...
Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant: Is it better to forget?
The most recent book I finished is Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant, in which an elderly Briton couple leave their village to visit a son who they have not seen in years. This is a perilous journey in post-Roman Britain, where distances are yet unconquered by advanced transportation, and where people are frail. Still, the story hints that the couple is strong for their age yet, and devoted to each other. There is one quirk: the couple is missing their memories, owing to a dragon’s spell cast...
Discovering, remembering, and clarifying my thoughts through writing. Writing to find joy.
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I generally like to write about personal topics. But as I recently changed jobs, I wanted to take a step back and distill some of the key things I learned as a marketer on the Base team.
It was a time of growth, personally and professionally. It pushed me to be more resilient and a better communicator. Base’s core values—working hard, staying optimistic, doing the right things even when it’s hard, and continuing to build—resonated deeply with me, and I will continue to uphold them regardless whether I’m part of the team or not.
This experience also framed how I think about the fundamentals of good marketing:
Establish product market fit
Uncover your story (and tell it in a way that sticks)
Let your community tell the story
Deliver value beyond hype words
Be human
This framework is easy to break down but hard to execute well. It helps me when I need to take a step back and think about what I’m saying, who I’m saying it to, how I should say it, and why.
Establish product market fit
The product is the foundation. No amount of marketing can save a product that doesn’t work, doesn’t bring value (whether it’s ease, revenue or connections), or doesn’t solve a problem.
Marketers play a crucial role in the pre-launch period, even while the product is still evolving—by advocating for the user.
I try and look at the experience from the customer’s point of view.
Is this something they would actually want?
Is the entry point into the product as seamless as possible? Where does friction exist, and how can marketing help with discovery or clarification?
Most importantly, is the product actually delivering what it says it is?
If you misrepresent the product, overpromise and under-deliver, or make it exceedingly difficult to get started, you’ve lost some people right off the bat who could otherwise have been loyal fans.
Uncover your story (and say it simply)
First, the big picture: You’re not just selling a product—you’re helping shape a vision for a different future.
How is your product or service making things better for people? What broader purpose does it serve? Why does it exist?
This usually requires questioning a few levels deep. I think the best whys tap into things that are fundamentally human.
Unlocking value
Helping people connect with each other
Broadening access to resources and ideas
Once you identify your “why,” everything should ladder up to it.
Base and its product lead, Jesse Pollak, distilled the “why” into an iconic statement: bringing the world onchain. And this vision set the context for any event or communications that we did. It rallied people around what we were building, invited them to contribute, and created one joint mission that everyone could be part of.
However, not every company or project needs a vision about changing the world. If that’s the case, you can look for the one thing you’re trying to do really well and own. And this could be drilling down into the most fundamental value or service you’re providing.
I always love the example of Uniswap, wrapped around in their iconic pink: “Swap anytime, anywhere.”
Or more recently, from MegaEth: “The first real-time blockchain.”
Once you identify the big picture, drill down into your differentiators. This goes one level deeper to identify the 3-5 most important things about your product.
What problem are you solving?
Why are you solving this problem?
What makes this product different from competitors? What are some of the first, the only things you are doing?
Or what are you doing really well?
As you craft your answers, stay away from jargon or clunky words. Default to simplicity and clarity. Especially if you’re targeting consumers, web2 analogies help. (For example; the best analogy I’ve ever heard of an NFT is a piece of paper—so simple to understand, so good at conveying what the technology actually does.)
Let your community tell the story
Nailing the why and the differentiators are the start to good marketing. They will be the foundation of the go-to-market plan and all communications.
But it’s not enough to hear this story from you alone. People want to learn from and get inspired by others like them.
So, the spotlight shouldn't just be on you. It’s on others who have (hopefully) used your product and done something awesome with it.
At Base, a core part of what we did was highlighting builders: by amplifying their stories on social channels and content, and making them a core part of events. We created events where people could hear from the builders, talk to the builders, and see or interact with the things they’d built.
These tactics can carry over to any industry with a range of tactics from testimonials, content and case studies, to joint events, X-spaces and more.
The channels are varied but the idea is simple: highlight others and their stories.
Deliver value
Getting started in crypto is hard. For most newcomers, the experience still isn’t as frictionless as most web2 apps and requires onboarding to new tools. Even for more seasoned users, there is something new or unfamiliar every week.
So how can you make this journey easier and more rewarding? How do you deliver value beyond just talking about your product?
Some things we did at Base included:
Daily onchain actions (“Onchain Daily”), which highlighted Based builders as well as giving everyone fun things to do onchain
Retroactive Builder Grants for people who built awesome apps
Meetup grants to bring Based builders together
Dedicated times for anyone to connect with members of the Base team and ask questions
Free tools to start building
Whether it’s a discount, a rewarding interaction, or good content and perspective (that informs and not just markets), there’s always something you can do to deliver concrete value.
Be human
Whenever we did events, the best thing was meeting other builders in person. We learned a ton about what they enjoyed, what was working for them, and what we could be doing better.
Having this direct feedback loop both helped build trust and helped us identify how we could better support the builders.
Ultimately, people want to do business with others they know and trust. And the only way to build that trust is to be accessible and present.
“Being human” also carried over to our voice. I can say first-hand how much attention and care the Base team devoted to its voice. (I’ve personally reworked content many times to strip it down to its essence in a clearer and more direct way.)
One piece of feedback that always stayed with me is: we’re talking to actual human beings. And we are actual human beings. We have to connect on a plane that’s real and direct.
Always learning
This framework is my starting point, but in no way an exhaustive one. Every day, founders and marketers are coming up with new strategies, tactics, and ways to build communities that evolve what good marketing is.
But the fundamentals don’t change. For any brand, whether it’s a polished institution or a small indie game built onchain, there’s an essence—something only they can bring to the table. Identifying that essence, how it sounds, looks, and relates to people, is always the start of good marketing.
I generally like to write about personal topics. But as I recently changed jobs, I wanted to take a step back and distill some of the key things I learned as a marketer on the Base team.
It was a time of growth, personally and professionally. It pushed me to be more resilient and a better communicator. Base’s core values—working hard, staying optimistic, doing the right things even when it’s hard, and continuing to build—resonated deeply with me, and I will continue to uphold them regardless whether I’m part of the team or not.
This experience also framed how I think about the fundamentals of good marketing:
Establish product market fit
Uncover your story (and tell it in a way that sticks)
Let your community tell the story
Deliver value beyond hype words
Be human
This framework is easy to break down but hard to execute well. It helps me when I need to take a step back and think about what I’m saying, who I’m saying it to, how I should say it, and why.
Establish product market fit
The product is the foundation. No amount of marketing can save a product that doesn’t work, doesn’t bring value (whether it’s ease, revenue or connections), or doesn’t solve a problem.
Marketers play a crucial role in the pre-launch period, even while the product is still evolving—by advocating for the user.
I try and look at the experience from the customer’s point of view.
Is this something they would actually want?
Is the entry point into the product as seamless as possible? Where does friction exist, and how can marketing help with discovery or clarification?
Most importantly, is the product actually delivering what it says it is?
If you misrepresent the product, overpromise and under-deliver, or make it exceedingly difficult to get started, you’ve lost some people right off the bat who could otherwise have been loyal fans.
Uncover your story (and say it simply)
First, the big picture: You’re not just selling a product—you’re helping shape a vision for a different future.
How is your product or service making things better for people? What broader purpose does it serve? Why does it exist?
This usually requires questioning a few levels deep. I think the best whys tap into things that are fundamentally human.
Unlocking value
Helping people connect with each other
Broadening access to resources and ideas
Once you identify your “why,” everything should ladder up to it.
Base and its product lead, Jesse Pollak, distilled the “why” into an iconic statement: bringing the world onchain. And this vision set the context for any event or communications that we did. It rallied people around what we were building, invited them to contribute, and created one joint mission that everyone could be part of.
However, not every company or project needs a vision about changing the world. If that’s the case, you can look for the one thing you’re trying to do really well and own. And this could be drilling down into the most fundamental value or service you’re providing.
I always love the example of Uniswap, wrapped around in their iconic pink: “Swap anytime, anywhere.”
Or more recently, from MegaEth: “The first real-time blockchain.”
Once you identify the big picture, drill down into your differentiators. This goes one level deeper to identify the 3-5 most important things about your product.
What problem are you solving?
Why are you solving this problem?
What makes this product different from competitors? What are some of the first, the only things you are doing?
Or what are you doing really well?
As you craft your answers, stay away from jargon or clunky words. Default to simplicity and clarity. Especially if you’re targeting consumers, web2 analogies help. (For example; the best analogy I’ve ever heard of an NFT is a piece of paper—so simple to understand, so good at conveying what the technology actually does.)
Let your community tell the story
Nailing the why and the differentiators are the start to good marketing. They will be the foundation of the go-to-market plan and all communications.
But it’s not enough to hear this story from you alone. People want to learn from and get inspired by others like them.
So, the spotlight shouldn't just be on you. It’s on others who have (hopefully) used your product and done something awesome with it.
At Base, a core part of what we did was highlighting builders: by amplifying their stories on social channels and content, and making them a core part of events. We created events where people could hear from the builders, talk to the builders, and see or interact with the things they’d built.
These tactics can carry over to any industry with a range of tactics from testimonials, content and case studies, to joint events, X-spaces and more.
The channels are varied but the idea is simple: highlight others and their stories.
Deliver value
Getting started in crypto is hard. For most newcomers, the experience still isn’t as frictionless as most web2 apps and requires onboarding to new tools. Even for more seasoned users, there is something new or unfamiliar every week.
So how can you make this journey easier and more rewarding? How do you deliver value beyond just talking about your product?
Some things we did at Base included:
Daily onchain actions (“Onchain Daily”), which highlighted Based builders as well as giving everyone fun things to do onchain
Retroactive Builder Grants for people who built awesome apps
Meetup grants to bring Based builders together
Dedicated times for anyone to connect with members of the Base team and ask questions
Free tools to start building
Whether it’s a discount, a rewarding interaction, or good content and perspective (that informs and not just markets), there’s always something you can do to deliver concrete value.
Be human
Whenever we did events, the best thing was meeting other builders in person. We learned a ton about what they enjoyed, what was working for them, and what we could be doing better.
Having this direct feedback loop both helped build trust and helped us identify how we could better support the builders.
Ultimately, people want to do business with others they know and trust. And the only way to build that trust is to be accessible and present.
“Being human” also carried over to our voice. I can say first-hand how much attention and care the Base team devoted to its voice. (I’ve personally reworked content many times to strip it down to its essence in a clearer and more direct way.)
One piece of feedback that always stayed with me is: we’re talking to actual human beings. And we are actual human beings. We have to connect on a plane that’s real and direct.
Always learning
This framework is my starting point, but in no way an exhaustive one. Every day, founders and marketers are coming up with new strategies, tactics, and ways to build communities that evolve what good marketing is.
But the fundamentals don’t change. For any brand, whether it’s a polished institution or a small indie game built onchain, there’s an essence—something only they can bring to the table. Identifying that essence, how it sounds, looks, and relates to people, is always the start of good marketing.
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